Genes not the only predictor of a human’s fate, even in identical twins

On Jan. 16, Pauline Friedman Phillips, the woman who wrote under the pen name Abigail Van Buren or “Dear Abby,” died at 94 from Alzheimer’s. Her twin, Esther Friedman Lederer, who wrote as Ann Landers, died of multiple myeloma on June 22, 2002.

Researchers once felt the human genome was life’s blueprint that determined traits and behaviors and even signaled what disease would cause the person’s death.

But 21st-century scientific studies reveal that for identical or “monozygotic” twins, the similarities end when the zygote, or the fertilized egg, splits into two zygotes. From that point on, body chemistry, environment, life’s experiences, behaviors and random chance take control.